DocuSign Envelope ID: 3C662E55-2218-449D-8FBA-419ABD91BE85 Harris County Republican Party Minutes of the Executive Organizational Committee Meeting July 12, 2014 The Organizational meeting of the Executive Committee of the Harris County Republican Party was held Saturday July 12, 2014 at the Norris Conference Center , 816 Town & Country St., Ste. 210; Houston, TX 77024 with County Chairman Paul Simpson presiding. The Chair called the meeting to order at 10:13 a.m. Trebor Gordon, Co-Chaplain, opened with the invocation. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Al Hoang, candidate for State Rep 149, and the Pledge to the Texas flag was led by Morad Fiki, candidate State Rep 137. Hope Johnson led the National Anthem. The Oath of Office was given by State Supreme Court Justice, Eva Guzman to the newly elected Chairman and then to the newly elected Precinct Chairs. The Chair appointed Cathy O’Briant as Temporary Secretary, Felicia Cravens as Parliamentarian. The rules were suspended by motion, seconded and passed to allow a non member to speak. U.S. Senator Ted Cruz spoke by video and Texas Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas Steve Munisteri spoke encouraging the body to continue at the grass root level to elect Republicans in the November election. Temporary Secretary certified that with 448 Precinct Chairs on the roll, 112 were needed to do business and 112 to elect new Precinct Chairs. There were 239 present. (SEE EXHIBIT “A”). NEW BUSINESS The Chair stated the meeting would follow Robert’s Rules of Order and explained the procedures for recognition and addressing the body at the microphones. Travis Bryan moved to appoint Angelina Goodman and Jeffrey Larson as Precinct Chairs in their vacant precincts. Melanie Flowers was added to the motion to serve as Precinct Chair to her vacant precinct. Motion was seconded and passed. These and others that missed the previous swearing in were sworn into office of Precinct Chair. Josh Flynn moved to accept the previous By-Laws of 2012-2014 to be the By-Laws of 2014-2016 with one amendment in Article III Section 2 B to strike the words “of the Executive Committee.” and was seconded. Doug Markham moved to amend the By-Laws to add at the end of Article IX Section 2 “Only Precinct Chairs who may vote on a ballot measure or candidate are eligible to vote to endorse or oppose a ballot measure or candidate”. The amendment was seconded and tabled. The motion to adopt the Rules as presented was passed. Nominations for Secretary were opened. Dave Riddle nominated Cathy O’Briant and was seconded. There were no other nominations. Cathy O’Briant was elected unanimously as Harris County Republican Party Secretary. Suzanne Davis moved to approve the appointments of the Chair for Vice Chairman – Susanna Dokupil; Legal Counsel – Ed Hubbard; Sergeant at Arms- Joe Ablaza. Seconded and passed. Finance Report was presented by Treasurer Cindy Siegel. The Chair relinquished the chair to the Vice-Chair. 1. Resolution Honoring Jared Woodfill was moved by Paul Simpson and seconded. Resolution passed. (SEE EXHIBIT “B”) The Chairman re-assumed the Chair. Motion was made by Tom Bazan to restrict the reading of Resolutions to be only the Title and Be It Resolved sections except for the Resolution on Stan Stanart and seconded. Modified to include only the Resolutions of which a copy was provided. Motion was adopted as modified. 2. Resolution in Support of Israel to Defend Herself was moved by Bonnie Lugo, seconded and passed. (SEE EXHIBIT “C”) 3. Resolution of the Harris County Republican Party of Texas to Protect the Health, Safety, and Security of Our Citizens and Community and Providing for Other matters Related to the Subject was moved by Bonnie Lugo Motion was made by Matthew Bernstein to table all resolutions that are not provided to all of the body or presented on the screen. It was seconded and failed. Motion to amend by Greg Aydt to strike page 2, first paragraph. Seconded and failed. Resolution passes. (SEE EXHIBIT “D”) 4. Resolution to Applaud Stan Stanart was moved by Beth Akin, seconded and passed. (SEE EXHIBIT “E”) 5. Resolution Opposing the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance was moved by Travis Bryan and seconded. Typographical error was amended and resolution passed. (SEE EXHIBIT “F”) Senatorial District Committee members were elected as listed. The Chair announced his appointments and they were approved. Motion to adjourn at 4:03 p.m. seconded and passed. _____________________________________ _________________________________________ Party Secretary Party Chairman Approved (Exhibit on file at County Headquarters) To: Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee From: Paul Simpson, Harris County Republican Party Chair Re: 2014 Harris County Republican Executive Committee Organizational Meeting Organizational Meeting Notice: This is your official notice for the Organizational Meeting of the Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee for 2014-2016. The meeting will take place on Saturday, July 12, 2014 at the Norris Conference Center at CityCentre in Houston, Texas. This is a new location, for this meeting only. Location: CityCentre is at the southeast corner of I-10 and Beltway 8. Parking for the Conference Center is on the third level of the garage. Enter from the northbound Beltway 8 feeder (easier) or the I-10 feeder (harder). Doors to the Norris Conference Center are on the south side of the garage. About the Organizational Meeting: The Executive Committee, established by Texas law, consists of the County Chair plus all Precinct Chairs elected in the primary or previously appointed by the rest of the Executive Committee. A new Executive Committee thus takes office every two years and has to organize itself. So our initial order of business includes adopting new Bylaws. The 2012-2014 Rules Committee proposed adopting substantially the same Bylaws in effect before. If the proposed bylaws are adopted, this meeting will consist of two parts: the meeting of the entire Harris County Executive Committee, followed by caucuses by Texas State Senate Districts to elect SD Chairs and Committee members. The following is the agenda for this meeting: AGENDA HARRIS COUNTY REPUBLICAN PARTY 2014 ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING Norris Conference Center @ CityCentre 816 Town & Country St., Ste. 210 Houston, TX 77024 Saturday, July 12, 2014 9:00am – Registration & beverage service 10:00am – Call to Order 1. Invocation / Pledges of Allegiance / National Anthem 2. Introduction and Certification of Quorum 3. Swearing–in Ceremony 4. Adoption of 2014-2016 Bylaws 5. Election of Secretary 6. Other New Business 7. Senate District Caucuses 8. Adjournment 9. Boxed lunch (provided) / Breakout Training Sessions 1 Bylaws for 2014-2016: The 2012-2014 Rules Committee recommended adopting the latest version of the prior bylaws, with a minor change: as now required by Texas law (Election Code §171.024), to provide that precinct chair vacancies be filled by a majority vote when a quorum is present. The proposed Bylaws are included with this Notice. (Note: this draft refers to holding the Organizational Meeting after terms of office begin in April or May. This is outdated, because the Legislature moved the runoff to late May. Republican Party of Texas Rules now require this meeting to take place before the end of July.) If those bylaws are adopted largely as proposed, the following business will proceed: • Entire Executive Committee: Elect Party Secretary; approve County Chairman’s appointments (Vice-Chairman, Sergeant-at-Arms, Legal Counsel, & committee appointments). • SD Caucuses: Each Senatorial District will caucus separately in a designated room in the Norris Conference Center after the whole Executive Committee meets. Each caucus will elect a Senatorial District Chair, who must be a precinct chair from that Senatorial District. The caucus must then elect representatives to various Standing Committees. Below are general descriptions of Committee roles and membership; a fuller description is in the draft Bylaws. Note that three committees require precinct chairs as members, while the rest do not: Number of Committee Members from Pct. Senatorial District Standing Chair SD SD SD SD SD SD SD SD Committee General Description Only? 4 6 7 11 13 15 17 18 Determine proper accounting controls, Accounting procedures, & compliance are in effect; Yes 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Review prepare biennial report Recruit & train election judges, poll Ballot watchers, & others to protect integrity No 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 Security and veracity of election process Investigate and report qualifications of Candidates non-judicial Harris County GOP No 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 candidates Evaluate propositions, bond issues, Local governmental charters/by-laws No 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 Government changes, tax changes, and ordinances Strengthen relationships between Military Republican Party and GOP candidates No 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 Partnership with military personnel and veterans Rules Consider changes to Bylaws / Rules Yes 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 Train Republican activists to organize Training and and win elections, including precinct No 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 Development organization and operations Seek, recruit, interview, and Vacancy recommend persons to fill Precinct Yes 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 Chair vacancies RESOLUTIONS: Resolutions must be in writing, include the author’s name, and (1) be delivered to Party headquarters at least two business days before the meeting for inclusion into members’ packets, or (2) have 250 copies delivered to the County Chair or his representative before the Call to Order. 2 Introduction and Update Our Harris County Republican Party has a storied history and a promising future. I attended my first Executive Committee as a precinct chair over 24 years ago and remain ever excited about our potential. As the new County Chair, I hope you are as energized as I am about the opportunities awaiting us as Republicans in Harris County.